Thermal shock and freeze-thaw resistance of different types of carbonate rocks

In this study, the physical, mechanical and index properties of 6 different carbonate rocks, taken from quarries in the East Anatolian region of Turkey and commonly used for decorative purposes in buildings, were investigated after the thermal shock (T-S) and freeze thaw (F-T) effects. Compared to room temperature conditions, attempts were made to determine the variation in physical and mechanical properties like porosity, mass loss, roughness, gloss, Schmidt hardness (SH), P-wave velocities (Vp) and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) occurring in carbonate rocks as a result of T-S and F-T cycles. Additionally, SEM analysis was performed on 2 rocks with worst and best physical and mechanical properties at room temperature and the causes of variations in the microstructure of these carbonate rocks were discussed. According to the obtained results, as the number of T-S and F-T cycles increase, the degradation of the internal structure of the carbonate rocks increases and as a result, resistance to physical and mechanical effects significantly reduces. Additionally, the F-T effect was determined to negatively affect the internal structure of the carbonate rocks in greater amounts compared to the T-S effect. It was determined that UCS of the carbonate rocks decreased between 16.14-28.65% and 22.96–45.66% after 50 T-S and F-T cycles, respectively. As the L4 rock sample (Tamara Bej) has fewer flaws in the internal structure compared to other rocks, it was identified to be more favorable for decorative use in buildings.